1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and a printing request making method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In client-server systems, loads on servers increase as the number of client terminals increase, and therefore, the risk of generation of fatal delays or failures in the systems is present. Furthermore, such risks also exist for printing systems utilizing print servers, and therefore, measures to avoid these risks, such as improving functionalities of servers, or increasing the number of servers, are taken in accordance with the increase in the number of client terminals.
Since the increase in the number of servers directly relates to increase in cost, the number of servers should not be increased haphazardly. Therefore, it is important to recognize loads to which the client terminals and the servers are subjected to, and thereafter, increase the number of servers.
Furthermore, in the printing systems utilizing the print servers, it is important to show to users progress of printing operations performed in the print servers from the viewpoint of usability.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-230515 discloses a method for allowing progress of processing performed between a client terminal and a server to be recognized from an amount of data transmitted between the client terminal and the server.
In addition, in printing systems in the related art, progress is recognized from the number of sheets printed by devices.
Moreover, as a method for allowing progress of processing performed using a server to be recognized, a method for periodically performing polling from a client terminal to a server is taken as an example. However, in this method, there may arise a problem in that the polling operation itself may become a load for the server.
In printing processing through a network, there arises a problem in that information leaks may occur due to a printed sheet being abandoned or a user forgetting to take a printed sheet. Therefore, there is a demand for a printing system in which a printed sheet is securely obtained by a user who instructed printing processing.
To meet this demand, a printing system called a “pull-print system” has been provided. In the pull-print system, a client terminal uploads data to be printed to a server, and an actual instruction for printing is issued using a device. Therefore, a printed sheet may be prevented from being abandoned or being forgotten to be taken.
The pull-print system is one of the client-server printing systems, and the client terminal is equivalent to the “device”. Therefore, as with the problems described above, it is necessary to allow recognition of progress of processing performed using the server and control a load to which the server is subjected to.
However, when the progress is managed in the pull-print system by the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-230515, the following problems arise.
In the pull-print system, unlike a system in which a client terminal including data to be printed transmits the data to be printed to a server and instructs performance of a printing operation, data to be printed is managed in the server. Therefore, it is difficult for the client terminal (that is, the device in the pull-print system) to recognize the size of the data to be printed, and therefore, it is difficult to recognize progress. Accordingly, there arises a problem in that it is difficult to control a load to which the server is subjected to.
Furthermore, with the method for managing the progress by the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-230515 and the method for managing the progress using the number of printed sheets, when a plurality of documents are simultaneously instructed to be subjected to pull-print processing, it is difficult to determine whether a load to which the server is subjected to should be reduced. That is, it is difficult for the client terminal (the device in the pull-print system) to properly recognize the load to which the server is subjected to. Accordingly, there arises a problem in that it is difficult to control the load to which the server is subjected to.